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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, MA, Project Manager

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
The Finishing Touch, c.1872–80 (Hills no. 25.1.11). Frame
Frame
Photo: Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
The Finishing Touch, c.1872–80 (Hills no. 25.1.11)
Photo: Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
The Finishing Touch, c.1872–80 (Hills no. 25.1.11). Verso
Verso
Photo: Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
The Finishing Touch, c.1872–80 (Hills no. 25.1.11). Verso labels
Verso labels
Photo: Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
25.1 Women Indoors

Johnson’s wife, Elizabeth, no doubt turned his attention to representations of women alone—either in interiors or outside. Such women are often lost in thought and suggest sentient beings with an inner life. In my interviews with descendants of Johnson’s siblings, she is presented as an independent woman. Johnson painted her portrait in which she assumes the posture of a woman who thinks on her own (also see theme 31.3). —PH

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Hills no. 25.1.11
Baur no. 99
The Finishing Touch
c.1872–80
Oil on board
19 7/8 x 12 in. (50.5 x 30.5 cm)
Initialed lower right in red: E.J.
Description / Remarks

Hills opinion letter, 2010: "The work is a very slight oil sketch of a woman with a voluminous gown standing in front of a large mirror and fixing her hair. The tones are mostly in the red range with a grey green floor covering."

Markings
Verso marking, bottom half, large: 469/8
Labels
Verso labels: upper right, possibly in Johnson's hand: The Finishing Touch/Eastman Johnson; upper center: P163/J; upper right: A291/TOX/The Finishing Touch"; center: H-11470
Provenance
[Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, March 31 and April 1, 1939, English & American XVIII Century Furniture, no. 86 (as The Finishing Touch)]
Thomas Finger, by 1940
Max and Ruth Friedberg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Boca Raton, Florida, before 1960
Leonard Friedberg, c. 1979 (by inheritance)
Dr. Louis and Elaine Marquisee, Boca Raton, Florida, c. 1994 (by inheritance)
Private collection, Minnesota
Heritage Auctions, Dallas, November 15, 2012, American & European Art Signature Auction #5118, lot 73127 (as The Finishing Touch); did not sell
eBay seller LMSMPLS, January 2017
[Revere Auctions, St. Paul, Minnesota, July 18, 2019, lot 49 (as The Finishing Touch)]
[Revere Auctions, St. Paul, Minnesota, March 25, 2020, Important Modern, Post-War, and Contemporary Art, lot 11 (as The Finishing Touch)]
Joanne Witty and Eugene Keilin, Brooklyn, New York, March 25, 2020 (by purchase)
Exhibitions
1874 Century Association
Century Association, New York, January 10, 1874, [possibly, as Lady Before a Mirror].
1937 Frazier Gallery
Frazier Gallery, New York, Eastman Johnson 1824–1906: Forerunner of Homer and Eakins, September–October 1937. (Hirschl 1937); (Frazier Gallery 1937a), no. 8, as The Finishing Touch.
References
Parke-Bernet 1939
English & American XVIII Century Furniture. New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries, March 31 and April 1, 1939. Sale catalogue, p. 13, no. 86: "Full-length figure of a woman in a flowing cream white gown, standing before a mirror; brown and emerald green background," as The Finishing Touch.
Baur 1940
Baur, John I. H. An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1940. Exhibition catalogue (1939 Brooklyn Museum), p. 64, no. 99, as The Finishing Touch.
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 2010-05-20
Examination notes: Pencil outlining on left of neck, along right of dress. Edges of mirror. Typical turquoise at bottom. Scrubbed brushwork upper left. Light on neck at left; dark side is the underpainting (also graphite on right). Some pencil on arms, but arm very unresolved. Slight image in mirror. Light on ear. Wedge-like bun in hair. Back of dress quickly painted. Top part of bodice very bunched. Typical board.
Hills opinion letter: June 16, 2010 view »
Keywords
Record last updated September 23, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "The Finishing Touch, c.1872–80 (Hills no. 25.1.11)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=334 (accessed on March 29, 2024).